


Chapter Three: You Had a Bad Day

by archibaldcurothers



Series: Take the Long Way Home [3]
Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: F/M, Gen, Reader Insert, Self-Insert, Slow Burn, but it's still important ok, sorry sesshomaru isn't in this one much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2020-08-11 01:57:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20145682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/archibaldcurothers/pseuds/archibaldcurothers
Summary: Realizing your predicament, you fall into a deep depression, but Rin is determined to remedy it.





	Chapter Three: You Had a Bad Day

It had been a little over a week since Sesshomaru bestowed the amulet on (Y/N), and the joy that Rin had felt upon the pathways of communication being opened were quickly stifled. It was not because of disagreement or strife, but rather (Y/N)’s deep sorrow that pained the child’s heart. It made her feel selfish and a bit silly that she had believed the amulet would fix everything. Instead, it had exposed the truth of the situation - that (Y/N) was no longer in her own country, nor her own time. The realization had banished (Y/N) to the depths of despair. Her family, her friends, her life…all had been snatched away from her and she couldn’t come to terms with it.

Rin had been quick to assure (Y/N) of another with a similar circumstance of time travel - Kagome. This gave temporary hope to the young woman, but that too was dashed against the rocks by Sesshomaru’s refusal to seek Kagome out. He had no business with her and he would not deign to go out of his way to oblige (Y/N).

In the days since, (Y/N) barely spoke. Rin tried to cheer her up by catching her fish and telling her stories of Jaken’s unsuccessful attempts at being useful to Lord Sesshomaru (Jaken did not care for these stories), as well as suggest games to take her mind off her misfortune. At these attempts of hospitality, (Y/N) would give thanks or a sad smile to the girl, but her spirits were still not lifted.

“Hmph, why is that woman still accompanying us if she is so miserable?” Jaken asked of no one in particular. “If she is so discontented she would do well to go elsewhere and leave us alone. We do not need her melancholic mood here.”

“You’re being unfair!” Rin scolded. “She’s just scared and misses her family. It’s okay for her to be sad, Master Jaken. I was sad when I lost my family, would you have mocked me for it too?”

At this, the demon attempted to stammer out an excuse for why the two shouldn’t be equated, but Rin had already become so upset by him that she stomped away with the resolve to spend time with (Y/N). Kind persistence had endeared Lord Sesshomaru to herself, after all, perhaps she could work the same magic once more on (Y/N).

***********************

You sat on a boulder, hugging your knees to your chest as you stared blankly ahead. You felt completely drained from your fits of tears and the aching hollow in your heart. You felt somewhat guilty for your unbridled expressions of despair; the others had taken you in when they had no real reason to, even provided you with some enchanted amulet to allow you to converse, but you still wallowed.

Rin tried so hard to make you happy. You truly did appreciate her efforts and were ashamed that you weren’t able to put on a more cheerful face to alleviate her anxiety over you. Jaken, however, was the exact opposite. He would loudly express that he was of the opinion that you should go off on your own since you showed “no gratitude” for what they’d done for you. Several times you had to suppress the desire to pick the little gremlin up and punt him into the sun.

Sesshomaru was different though. You couldn’t get a read on him. He seemed neither friendly now hostile towards you. In fact, he barely acknowledged you. Rin had explained to you he was just a man, or rather, a demon, of few words. You had been grateful that he gave you the trinket so you could communicate with everyone, but you were also bitter that he had declined to take you to the girl, Kagome, that Rin had mentioned.

You wondered if you should try to find her yourself, but the unfamiliar terrain and the cold, hard fact that demons were plentiful in this land would be tremendous obstacles. As you considered your options you noticed Rin running towards you with something colorful in her hands. You soon realized they were wildflowers and your heart ached, knowing they were another attempt at cheering you up.

She was soon upon you, earnestly holding the bouquet out to you.

“Thank you, Rin, they’re beautiful,” you said as you accepted the gift.

“If you want, I can show you how to make them into a tiara,” she proudly proclaimed.

She tried so hard to make you happy. You didn’t really want a flower crown, but you couldn’t bring yourself to decline.

“Yeah, I’d like that. Show me how to make one, Rin.”

The child’s face beamed with joy and gratification. She plopped herself in front of you and instructed you to separate the flowers by color. You did as you were told. Focusing on following Rin’s lesson helped occupy your mind and before long you had a lovely, albeit a little mangled, flower crown.

“You did such a good job!” she praised. “It looks really pretty, just like you!”

“Thanks,” you choked out. Tears were threatening to spill forth so you changed the topic. “It’s getting dark, we should probably go back to Ah-Un and sleep.”

“But I wanted to wait up for a Lord Sesshomaru,” she pouted.

The girl really adored him, you thought to yourself. “He’s been away for a couple days, Rin, we don’t know if he’ll be back tonight.” The little one sighed in resignation, but got up and followed you back to where the dragon lay.

Jaken and Ah-Un were already asleep when the two of you got back to the makeshift camp, which consisted of little more than the four of you hunkering in that spot. You had no shelter, not even a fire to give light and warmth. It was a spartan way of life, but at least you weren’t alone. You and Rin rested on the hard ground beside the impressive beast, but you could tell the young girl was restless. Even so, you were surprised when she declared she simply could not sleep after only resting for a few minutes. You, on the other hand, were spent and needed Rin to settle down so you could rest.

“Rin, lay back down. Just try to sleep.” When she insisted she was unable to do so, you offered to tell her a bedtime story. This got her attention and she agreed to try to sleep as you wove her a tale. You hadn’t actually thought she would agree to it, however, and could only conjure up stories from your own childhood. You told her of a beautiful young woman who was kind and generous, and all the creatures of the earth loved her. All except the girl’s own stepmother, the Queen. You told of how the Queen forced a noble huntsman to agree to kill the girl, but he only pretended to follow through with the deed. In actuality, he had instead sent the girl far away so that she would be safe from her wicked stepmother…

**********************

“What a foolish girl,” Sesshomaru muttered to himself. “Taking fruit from a stranger…this ‘princess’ was fortunate it had only put her to sleep instead of killing her. Her small companions would do well to have kept closer guard of her. Did they not know that just a few days before she was nearly murdered? They are all fools.”

Sesshomaru had drawn near the camp as (Y/N) was bargaining with Rin to get the child to sleep. Curious as to how it might unfold, he had stayed in the shadows to watch and listen. He was none too impressed with the story or its characters, whom he considered 'feeble-minded’, but he was surprised by how it transfixed young Rin’s attention. She had listened to (Y/N) intently, interjecting occasionally with expressions of shock, sadness, or anger. By the end of the tale, however, she had become quite worn out and snuggled into (Y/N)’s side to contentedly fall asleep. (Y/N) followed soon after.

The next morning, Rin woke with the sun and was delighted to see her guardian had returned. The joyful exclamations stirred the rest of the camp, and soon all were up and on the move once again.


End file.
